Yeeching Lau

Golden Gai Melbourne

The Golden Gai in Tokyo crams over 200 independent bars into the 6500-square-meter area, where each of them is encouraged to fill their bar to the brim with their own personality.

Taking reference from this, my project aims to create a destination nightlife experience with symbiotic relationship between all. Refuge spaces are also added to the program to diversify the experience, such as a hotel and bath.

The building planning references the Origins of Architectural Pleasure by Grant Hildebrand, which theorizes that architectural pleasure can be categorized into three aspects: enticement, stimulation, and refuge. The building program is divided accordingly: the lower levels are enticement, where ravers go to get noticed (party bars & dance floor); the middle levels are stimulation, where drinkers indulge in various activities in addition to drinking (variety bars & social space); the top levels are refuge, where partiers can let their guard down and blow off some steam (hotel & baths).

This concept informs the massing and façade. The main circulation goes through all programs with transitional spaces throughout, which glue all bars together from enticement to stimulation to refuge.